Hurt
by roughandraw
Summary: Isaac and Ari hate each other, but at the same time have more in common than they think. After Isaac is assigned to help Ari with her grades, and they begin to get closer, everything seems to be looking up. But Ari knows that when good things happen to her something terrible always comes along with it. Isaac/OC
1. Prologue

"_The wounded recognize the wounded."_

Mr. Harris had to make her life a personal hell. She thought it was the highlight of his day or even his sole purpose in life. And that is why today was single-handedly the worst of her life. Not only was she already failing (something she knew only too well how to do) but Mr. Harris liked to switch up lab partners when the class was just barely getting used to the ones he had already assigned. She always knew when it was coming too. She would walk into class and he would seem to be more pissed off than usual as if to hide the pleased glint in his eye. He was a really bad actor and only Ari seemed to notice which was quite ironic. She was the last person you would think of to notice small details though being alone, without distractions had helped her senses slightly evolve.

She wasn't sure why he had always chosen her as his personal doormat to ridicule and degrade during class, and even on the occasional off-chance that they crossed paths outside of class. It seemed that she was always on his radar and he could find her in even the most crowded of places. She thought that he honestly just needed a stiff drink and cheap hooker with low standards. There are a few times in everyone's life when all they need is some decent sex, and when the circumstances are that of Mr. Harris', sex would definitely be able to cure it.

She knew there was another crude remark coming from the disgustingly chapped lips of Mr. Harris, and since Ari wasn't as incompetent as Mr. Harris seemed to think, she had prepared herself for the blow since the moment she walked into class.

Without even looking away from his papers or missing a beat, and making sure he was being loud enough to reach everybody's ears and make them listen he began, and of course he seemed to be directing his words directly at her.

"Before we start class today I think we should all take a minute to congratulate Ari, who has inevitably climbed to earning the lowest grade that any of my students have reached throughout all my years of teaching." He looked up from his papers, and set them down on his desk before rising out of his chair, while the rest of the class snickered quietly all around her.

Before she could even begin to retaliate he started again, "So come on class, let's all give her a big, warm, round of applause. After all she did earn it." He said whilst bringing his hands together for slow forceful claps.

Ari could tell just by the crooked smirk playing in his lips that he was really starting to enjoy this and he wouldn't stop until he was fully satisfied, though she wondered if he ever would be satisfied with anything. Suddenly around her she could hear everyone slowly and quietly clapping and playing along. She could feel her stomach begin to turn and looked down to her lab to mask the embarrassment she was feeling.

"And since Ari and her lab partner are completely inadequate and too dull to figure out simple science, you can all thank her for the new lab partners I have assigned for you."

He proceeded to pick up the clipboard that contained the attendance list for the class whilst the rest of the class groaned and complained like the childish and immature pieces of shit they were. She thought she could even hear a few people say _fuck you Ari_ and _Ari you fucking bitch _from the back of the room. A few rolled up papers even hit her in the back of the head, only to bounce off and land on the floor behind her.

She rolled her eyes and decided to pretend as though it never happened, that is until Mr. Harris decided to open his gaping hole of a mouth and talk again.

"Isaac Lahey since you seem to be the only one in this entire class who actually has a clue and remotely understands the work I assign, maybe you can help Ari actually manage to do something productive besides twiddle her thumbs. Hopefully you can make up for her obvious lack of a brain."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Isaac Lahey, all brown hair and leather, who had suddenly got out of his seat and began walking to the front of the class to stand before Mr. Harris.

"Mr. Harris," He spoke lowly trying halfheartedly to make it as discreet as possible, though he was failing and Ari as well as the rest of the class could still hear every word, "You cannot pair me with the class dumbass. There has to be someone else more capable of dealing with her. I have SAT's to study for and I don't need the extra baggage."

His face screwed up while he ran a hand through his hair roughly, sending the already wild curls into an even bigger mess on top of his head.

Mr. Harris laughed and rested his hand on Isaac's shoulder before saying, "Isaac, last time I checked, I was the teacher of this class therefore I can do whatever I want. Ari is your new lab partner and from now on is yours to deal with."

And she thought this day couldn't get any worse but now she was classified as the "class dumbass" by none other than Isaac Lahey, the cocky, judgmental, smartass with a snide remark always on the tip of his tongue.

"B-but, but UGHHHH! This isn't fair." Isaac's voice had risen up in tone and now the rest of the class was watching with amusement.

And probably relief, since Isaac had been the unlucky person paired with Ari and that meant the none of the rest of them would have to work with her.

Mr. Harris didn't acknowledge Isaac again and instead shrugged before walking away from him only to return back to his own desk and the front of the room.

Isaac sighed loudly and grimaced before turning and slowly walking back to his seat looking more than displeased. He threw himself back into his seat before crossing his arms; much like a child does after being denied candy at the grocery market.

After Mr. Harris settles back into his seat at his desk he looks up at the class once again. "The rest of you can choose your own lab partners."

Everyone cheers, except for Isaac who lets out another audible groan, and scatters quickly around the room to find their friends to pair up and work with. Even Ari's previous partner looks as though they can't get away from her fast enough and almost trips over their stool in the rush to find someone else. Isaac got up from his seat again, this time with a pained look on his face, and walked over to his new seat by Ari.

"Class dumbass," She said before turning to him, "that's a new label." Her voice is quiet but she knows that Isaac can hear every one of her words.

"Not as new as you probably think." Is the only thing he says in return, without even showing an ounce of emotion. She knows that he doesn't feel anything towards what he said, and honestly she couldn't careless, and decided not to give any more thought to it. All she can think about is how her grades will never rise with this asshole as her lab partner. Even if he is the smartest person in the entire class.

Sitting before them on their lab table was a worksheet about chemical reactions, which they were supposed to complete together as a team, though all Ari could think about doing, was catching up on some much needed sleep. She weighed her options, and decided that the few minutes of sleep she would get were definitely worth another incomplete assignment.

She stretched her arms out in front of her and laid her head down gingerly, so that the fluorescent lighting was masked almost entirely by her hair.

Next to her she heard Isaac scoff "I'm not going to put your name on it if all you're going to do is sleep while I do all the work."

"Dude, like I give a fuck. Do whatever you want." She said without even raising her head.

She could practically feel him roll his eyes, and thought about all of the ways that Isaac was a raging cunt, before sleep finally won over her body. She didn't dream at all, in fact her sleep was more comatose than anything.

When she awoke up to the second bell, none of the other students were in the classroom. _'That asshole couldn't even wake me up.'_ She thought bitterly to herself. Mr. Harris was sitting in his desk grading papers when he noticed she was still there.

"No wonder you're failing Ari, sleep is obviously more important to you than my class. If you don't manage to get your grade up by the end of the semester, you will have the great splendor of repeating this class with me next year. This brings me to tell you that because of your grade you can take part in the pleasure of after school tutoring with Mr. Lahey. Make sure to let him know."

All of the information had unloaded onto her in just under two seconds and suddenly Mr. Harris was looking at her like she was some sort of mental patient for the way her mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"Now get out of my sight." He said while still grading papers. "You're making me sick."

Ari resisted the urge to take his and slam it against his blackboard until he fell unconscious and instead took a deep breath before snatching her bag off of the back of her chair. She slung it on her shoulder lazily before walking around her lab station towards the front of the room. While she made her way to the door she noticed the stack of worksheets from earlier today sitting in an orderly pile at the edge of Mr. Harris' desk. She rolled her eyes before looking at the one that rested on top of all the others. Scribbled at the very top of the paper she noticed Isaac's name written in messy scrawl, and next to it resting hers in the very same handwriting.

* * *

**Woo, that's the end of the prologue! I'm not sure whether to keep it or kill it so I'd love it if you took the time to tell me what you think about it :) Thanks for reading!**


	2. Fire

**Okay, here's chapter 1! I just want to say thank you to all of the lovely people who reviewed! You're amazing!**

* * *

Isaac had barely made it to his locker after chemistry before he saw Ari hot on his tail coming up from behind him in the hallway.

In his head he could practically count down the seconds and it wasn't long before she was standing next to him. Isaac didn't even bother to look over to her. "What do you want?"

"Oh wow, I'm great Isaac, thanks for asking. And yourself?"

Isaac couldn't help be but think about how much of a brat she sounded like and continued to gather his books out of his locker until he had all the correct ones firmly in his bag. When he was finished he slammed his locker hard enough to make the other lockers around his shake and rattle. He turned to stare at her with distaste. "What do you want?" He repeated.

"I just thought you should know you're my tutor now. Mr. Harris decided to take an even bigger shit on my life than he already has and signed us up for it." She said before looking down at her feet and shifting awkwardly.

Isaac couldn't believe it. "You have got to be bullshitting me."

Though he didn't even wait for a response and instead walked away from her. He stopped suddenly whipping around and walked up to her getting so close that his face was a few inches from hers. "I am not going to tutor you." He backed up. "I'm not."

He backed away a little more and shrugged before turning again this time not looking back.

He didn't make it much farther down the hallway before Mr. Harris had cornered him next to some lockers.

"Mr. Lahey," He drawled. "Has Ari talked to you about this little.. arrangement I have set up for you two?"

"Yeah and I'm not interested." Isaac said through gritted teeth as he tried to push his way past Mr. Harris who just reached his hand out and pushed him back towards the locker.

He could see Mr. Harris' eyes harden behind his bifocals. "I guess I should have made myself a little bit more clear then. You don't have a choice."

"You can't make me tutor someone."

"Hmm I guess that's true." Mr. Harris leaned away from him. "But the principal can, and he's the one who set this entire thing up. Do you honestly think I could give any inkling of care at all if that little brat fails or not?"

Isaac clenched his teeth together and his face curled in. "And I if I don't tutor her, what happens?"

"Well to be honest with you, nothing happens. But if you do tutor her, you get extra credit in all of your classes. That's not usually how it works but the principal feels pity for Ari and is taking her on as his own personal charity case."

Mr. Harris suddenly looked bored and situated his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose.

Isaac caves. "Where and when?"

"That's for you to decide." Is the only reply Mr. Harris gives before turning and walking away, leaving him behind.

The rest of Isaac's day passed in a blurred rage. He was so pissed off that Mr. Harris was practically blackmailing him into tutoring Ari. Mr. Harris knew how much he needed that extra credit to get high enough scores for an Ivy League college so he could some day make it of this wasteland of a town.

It's not like this is any normal tutoring job either; this is Ari. He doesn't even know where to begin. Never in his whole entire life has he seen someone lack the amount of motivation that she does.

Almost every class he has ever had with her he has seen her do absolutely _nothing_; sometimes even less than nothing. Hell, most of the time she wasn't even conscious for the lesson that was being taught and instead passed out on her desk, with her head resting on her arms while the sound of her steady heartbeat echoed in his ears.

Sometimes he wondered if she even had any academic fight left inside her or if she had just one day given up completely.

He assumed the latter.

When school finally let out for the day the whole pack bombarded him with questions about what happened in Chemistry. It seemed like everywhere he went he couldn't get away from someone talking about Ari.

They soon realized that he wasn't going to answer any of their questions about it and that it was bothering him so they settled for not talking about it all. In fact they didn't talk about it all on the rest of the car ride home, where they were carpooling on the way to Derek's house, and when they finally got there they didn't even rat him out to the Alpha.

They didn't talk about it while they were training, though he could tell that not talking about it and sharing it with their Alpha was starting to wear down on them. They even managed to hold off until they arrived at a local Beacon Hills diner for the after meeting meal they always had together.

They all settled into the largest tabled near the front corner of the room, and Isaac could practically feel the buzzing of excitement emitting from them all, and he just knew one of them was about to crack. His guess was that it would be Erica to first bring it up.

He was right, because not even a second later the blonde sucked in a rushed breath "Oh my god Derek you'll never guess what happened in Chemistry today!"

He decided to put himself out of his misery by sparing himself the instant replay and tuned her out.

The only thing Isaac can think about is how it's not even an interesting topic. It wasn't interesting to begin with and it still wasn't interesting now that they were relaying the whole story from top to bottom in great detail for Derek. In fact, all it is, is really fucking annoying and if anything his pack mates seriously needed to get lives instead of butting into his.

When he tuned back into the conversation he heard them talking about Isaac's reaction to it in class. How he made a scene by 'whining' to Mr. Harris.

"You know what they say," Lydia mused while eyeing him. "There's a thin line between love and hate."

Isaac glared at her. "Yeah? Well not in this situation."

She smirked at him while shrugging and reaching into her bag to pull out her lipgloss and a compact mirror. He watched as she unscrewed the top of the tube before using her slender fingers to squeeze it gently. She held the mirror up to her face with one hand while she applied the lip gloss with the other.

She spent a few more seconds rubbing her lips together to spread it evenly, making kissy faces at her self in the small mirror. She set the compact down in front of her as well as the tube. "All I'm saying Isaac, is that maybe you two have more in common than you think. You can't tell me that you don't smell the emotional damage she carries from kilometers away. She's a wreck, and you're.. well, you're _you_, and maybe after getting to know each other you'll start to see eye to eye."

Isaac ignored the slam about is past and sat up straighter in his chair as he leaned into the table getting closer to Lydia who was sitting directly across from him. "No, you don't get it Lydia!" He said. "There is _no_ seeing eye to eye with Ari Gibbens."

She rolled her eyes whilst resituating herself and leaned further into Jackson.

Isaac looked around the table and realized that he was primarily the only one alone. Lydia and Jackson had been working on things ever since Jackson had fully transformed from the Kanima into a full wolf and were, as Lydia liked to call it, 'unofficially officially together'.

Then there was Scott and Allison, whose relationship full of rainbows and sunshine was _total puke_ in his opinion.

Next to them was Erica and Boyd, something he honestly didn't see coming at all, but they were getting closer and closer everyday. He even walked in on them making out the other day which was emotionally scarring to say the least.

And lastly there was Derek and Stiles, and even though they weren't snuggling up against each other like the other couples at the table, he could still see the way their hands were clasped together underneath the table; out of sight.

He sighed and relaxed back into his chair. It's not like he was jealous, because no, Isaac Lahey does_ not_ get jealous. It's just that this life, his life, is suddenly such a drag. One more pointless day after another and all of them spent alone.

He began to wonder if that's how Ari feels about her life, but quickly pushed the thought away, because _why_ is he even thinking about Ari at all?

He curses himself silently because as if on cue, the front door opened and in walked Ari herself, along with another girl who Isaac had seen with her around school. He thought that something about Ari looked different, but couldn't quite figure out what it was. It hit him when she turned her head slightly and he saw that her lifeless ashy blonde hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. He had never seen Ari with her hair up and he couldn't stop himself from staring at her.

He continued to watch her as her and her friend walked up to the large counter at the far end of the room, where they began to chat up the cashier man. Ari's friend was doing most of the talking but he still saw Ari throw in a halfhearted attempt of a smile every now and then.

"Hey Isaac, look it's your girlfriend!" Erica's voice tore him away from his train of thought.

He snapped his to the left and glared at her. "She is not my girlfriend."

His eyes shifted over and he could feel himself clench his fists together underneath the table.

Erica's eyes widened and she put her hands up as a small giggle bubbled out of her mouth. "Whoaaa dude, watch the eyes! Defensive much? Huh with that reaction it's almost like she actually is your girlfriend. _Or_ maybe you just secretly like her? Does little Izzy have a little itty bit crush on Ari Gibbens? _Or_ is she your fuck buddy that you have hot, passionate, hate sex with? Let me guess, you guys meet for mid-day rendezvous in an abandoned classroom? _Or wait_, better yet, you finger-fuck her under the lab tables in chemistry? Damn Isaac I never pegged you to be such a—"

Isaac slammed his hand down on the table and Erica instantly lost her smirk and exchanged it for a look of shock as she jumped back from the table nestling herself closer into Boyd's side.

"Or how about his Erica," He spat. "You shut your fucking right now or I'll tear all of your god-awful hair out of your head, and wrap it so tight around your neck that you'll never live to take another breath?"

All of his packmates shifted awkwardly with looks ranging from shock to mild amusement adorning their faces. He noticed that some of their eyes shifted to his hand and when he looked down he saw that his claws had begun to protrude from the ends of his finger tips. He quickly jerked his hand back and shoved it into his lap underneath the table. He watched as Derek turned to glare at him.

"Isaac." Derek said warningly before turning towards Erica. "And _you,_ drop it! I don't want to hear any more about this Ari. From _any_ of you." He growled.

Isaac took a deep breath and his eyes changed back to their natural color. The rest of the pack was looking at him strangely though they tried to pretend like there weren't eyeing him. He knew they were afraid of him lashing out again in such a public place, and it kind of hurt his feelings. It wasn't his fault; Erica was provoking him, with the intent to get that exact reaction. He couldn't believe that he had let Erica get to him so fast, especially when it was about Ari. The way he reacted didn't help his case at all and now they all probably thought that he had some weird hate-crush on her. Just great. He debated whether or not to say something but decided instead to ignore it and crossed his arms over his chest. He knew that it probably looked like he was pouting but he really couldn't careless.

He thought back to how Erica had called him _Izzy _and spoke to him in the same tone that you would use on a small animal. Or a dog. He knew that they thought of him as the _puppy_ of the pack, babying him when they thought it was necessary. It's like they think because his father used to hit him that suddenly he's a stray dog, shaking in the corner with his tail between his legs. But he's fucking _not, _and he refuses to let any of them think that. Maybe that's why he acts like such an asshole; because he's trying to prove something he shouldn't have to prove to people that he doesn't owe _anything_ to.

He looked over to his packmates again. They were all laughing with each other and making jokes while he's sits here miserable. How do you they not see how_ unhappy_ he is?

Isaac decides to do what he always does and just ignores it, turning his from them completely taking in the diner that surrounded them.

His eyes were drawn to movement across the room and when he looked he saw that Ari and her friend were now making their way towards the door. Her friend was carrying a bag of take-out food and followed behind Ari as she walked in the lead. Now that the whole pack knew that, that was the girl that had been getting under Isaac's skin they were all staring at her in a completely obvious way.

As she walked passed their table she caught eyes briefly with Isaac and stopped abruptly. She pulled something out of her pocket along with a sharpie. Isaac noticed it was a dollar that she had pulled out and looked at her perplexed. She wrote on the dollar before shoving the sharpie back in her pocket so that it stuck out at an awkwardly angle. She made a fist and as a result the dollar bill crumpled into a ball inside of her hand.

She took a step closer to their table.

"Hey Isaac, here's a tip," She said as she cocked her head to the side and chucked the balled up dollar at him. It hit him smack in the face and dropped onto the table in front of him. He glanced down and glared at it before raising his eyes up to meet hers. "Stop being such a douche."

With that she blew him a kiss before she waved goodbye and turned to walk towards the door once again. Her friend stood awkwardly as if she wasn't sure what was going on. She frowned suddenly and mouthed _sorry_ to them before turning and walking hurriedly after Ari who had already left the building.

Isaac grabbed the crumpled dollar and used his fingers to unravel it slowly. He pressed it against the table to flatten it out as he worked to get as many of the wrinkles out as possible. He inspected the side with George Washington's face on it without finding any writing. He flipped it over in his hands.

Up in the corner in rushed handwriting were the words _FUCK YOU_ in all capitals letters.

He growled again and threw it onto the table. Jackson was the first to react and picked it up. He looked at it before laughing and proceeding to pass it around for the rest of the pack to see. "You got a real sweetheart on your hands there Isaac." He said.

Isaac rested his head against the back of his chair and lifted a hand lazily to flip him off.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

When Ari arrived home that night there were more cars than usual in her driveway, along with the scattering of randoms outside on her front lawn. Most likely junkies like her parents. She doubted that they were actually friends with her parents, since her parents were too fucked up most of the time to have any sort of relationship with someone besides one that requires a general common interest.

Sarah had offered to let her stay at her house that night, but she refused saying that she had some stuff to take care of at home. The real reason she refused though, was because that morning her father told her that she better be home or there would be _hell_ to pay.

She knew better than to cross her father when he makes a threat like that, because her father's threats are never empty.

Although Ari had a pretty decent idea why her father needed her at home tonight she was hoping that she was wrong.

Her hope was crushed the moment she walked through the front door. It wasn't anything major that told her tonight was going to be bad, but it was the minor things. The way the house was eerily calm and how nobody seemed to be in the sitting area, which was usually filled with randoms. Also, the door in the corner of the living room where her parents shoot up was open. That door was always closed and she wasn't allowed inside of it when it was shut. There were only certain times when she was allowed inside of there.

That door was never open unless..

"Ari!" Her father called out to her.

She scrambled back and tried to reach the front door to make a run for it but her panic was clouding her mind and she tripped over the glass end table set up next to their beaten couch. Her face slammed onto the ground and she winced after hearing the glass shatter beneath her. As she tried to pull her body up as quickly as she could she blindly reached out on to the ground in front of her. Tiny glass shards dug into her palms and she let out a piercing scream while still trying to pick her body up off of the ground. A large hand wrapped around her throat and pulled her backwards, cutting off her air supply.

Ragged choking sounds left her crushed airways. The hand tightened around her neck until she couldn't breathe at all and she couldn't help but use her fingers to desperately claw at the hand.

Suddenly she was pushed down again fell to the floor with a loud thump.

"Ari." Her father said again.

She rolled over and looked up to him. His t-shirt was filthy and his pants were torn. The hair on his head was greasy and plastered to his head in matted clumps. His face was sunken in and hollow and his eyes were cruel, and glaring down at her.

"No.." She whispered.

"Ari." He said warningly. "There's a nice man in there waiting for you."

His words were slow and lacking pronunciation, leading her to believe he was higher than shit right now.

"Please, no.." She tried again.

Her father let out a deafening roar and he picked up and empty beer bottle sitting amongst the rubble of the table she broke and he flung it at the wall as hard as he could. She flinched when it hit and sent a shower of glass raining down on her.

She scrambled away from him and used her elbows to prop her body up just slightly. "No, no, no, please anything else?" She begged. "Please I'll do anything else!"

Ari's father unexpectedly landed on top of her pinning her body to the ground under his weight. He pushed himself off slightly so that he was straddling her and drew his fist back before cracking it against her jaw.

She whimpered as he leaned down again. "One more word and I'll make sure you don't survive the night." He growled in her ear.

Her face started to heat up and she couldn't stop her bottom lip from quivering.

Her father rolled off of her and used his hand to wrap itself in her hair to bring her up with him. She yelped but he just tugged harder until she was standing again. He held onto her hair and dragged her towards the room. He didn't let go until they were right in front of it.

"Now stop crying ya worthless wench" He slurred before pushing her into the door. "You do exactly as you're supposed to or you'll be punished. You hear me! You think you can just** mooch** offa yer mother and me and **not** pull yer own weight? Not in my house you don't!"

He turned away and slammed the door behind him. She could feel her shoulders start to shake. She didn't want to turn around because she knew exactly what would be waiting for her. It seemed she wouldn't have time to wait as she heard someone shift behind her. The footsteps thudded against the carpet as they drew closer and her body began to tremble.

The person stopped behind here and she could hear the heavy breaths coming from their mouth. A hand gripped the side of her waist as they buried their head deep in her hair.

Ari knew that nothing that bad would happen to her in here. It would be the same thing as always. A cheap grope over her clothes that led to nothing more than them creaming themselves in their pants.

She knew that there could be worse things. Much, much, worse things and she often worried that her father would some day become so desperate that he would sell her off in that way too.

It scared her to _death. _

She decided that if that ever happened, she would kill herself.

The other persons body was now pressed flush against hers.

"Don't cry little girl, I'll take care of you." They murmured softly as they wrapped their arms around her and dragged her towards the bed.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

By the time Isaac had made his way into Chemistry the next day most of the class already settled in including Ari, who was sitting at the table they shared with her head down. Her heartbeat told him that she wasn't quite asleep yet but wasn't completely awake either. When he took his chair next to her she didn't stir at all, nor did she when Mr. Harris took his place at the front of the classroom to explain the lab experiment that they would be doing today.

The lab they were to complete was adjacent to the worksheet on chemical reactions from the day prior, and he was uninterested already.

It wasn't until Mr. Harris had stopped talking completely and settled into his desk bidding them good luck, that Ari actually moved. She lifted her head slowly, and used a hand to push her hair out of her face before moving her hand to her eyes to rub them.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed small cuts lining her palm. He tried to look at her other hand as well though it was covered by her hoodie.

She looked over to him and noticed that he was starting at her hand and quickly retracted it back inside her sleeve away from his view.

She glanced up at him accusingly and his eyes were drawn to her bottom lip. It jutted out slightly more than usual and had a smattering of markings upon it ranging from purpleish hues to full on black. Right in the middle of the bruising was a cut that extended vertically across her lip; bright red and contrasting against the dark colorations around it.

Isaac raised his eyebrow at the split lip. He narrowed his eyes and stared it for a little while longer as if debating whether or not to say anything. Eventually his curiosity had won him over and he really just couldn't help himself.

"You get in a fight or something?" He asked as he grabbed one of the test tubes their assignment and twirled it around in his fingers.

He looked up into her eyes and she quickly looked down to her sleeves fiddling with the extra material that bunched around her small wrists and shrugged. "Or something.."

She looked up to him again and he raised his eyebrow once more as if asking her to carry on. She turned in her seat and moved her arms so that they rested up on the table in front of her. She was still picking at her sleeves and twisting the fabric around every which way.

"I uh.. actually, I was walking home and wasn't paying attention and um my foot, it uh got caught in this.. crack, yeah a crack and I uh.. I fell over." She wasn't looking at him. "And I hit my face…"

Isaac's brow furrowed and he looked away from her. He could tell she was lying to him, and he didn't need to listen to the sound of heart to know it. Though, that did give her away as well, the tiny blips and stutters that sounded while she was talking. Her heartbeat was jumping all over the place and that didn't just mean she was lying to him. It meant she was lying to him _a lot._

But even as her heartbeat gave her away it wasn't what really led Isaac to believe that she was lying. It was more in the way she was stumbling over her words, as if she wasn't sure what to say next and was buying herself more time by stuttering. It was the exact same tactic that Isaac would often use when he would try to explain the injuries caused by his father. Of course he got better at lying with time; his father's wrath made sure of that. But there were still times when he was particularly shaken that he would lose his composure and become a blubbering mess.

It was that moment that Isaac realized that parts of Ari kind of reminded him a lot of himself; his _old_ self, the one that he doesn't like to dwell on anymore.

"Are you _sure_?.." He questioned. "Are you sure that someone didn't, you know, _hit_ you, or _do _that to you?"

She let out a shaky breath. "Yeah.. I'm sure." _Blip._

Her heart trembled Isaac knew he had been right. Though who is he to really assume, it could have been anyone, a friend, boyfriend, significant other... Hell, for all he knew it could have been a complete and total accident.

Even though Isaac is humoring himself with the other possibilities he feels like he knows deep down exactly what is going on. He just doesn't want to believe it. He can't stomach the fact that someone could be going through something similar to what he went through, because he knows just how bad it can be sometimes. He knows that it hurts, and the single thought is just too much for him to handle.

Ari looks over to him again and this time, her eyes say it all. Even though they're large and bright green and filled a fiery intensity that he's never even began to see in another person, they also are filled with something else. They're pleading with him. Pleading for him to stop asking intrusive questions and pleading for him to just let it go. The dark circles under her eyes tell him how tired she must be.

Isaac wants to say something else, but he realizes that he can't. Partly because he has no idea what to say to her and partly because he knows that she would never _ever_ accept his help.

No matter how much her eyes are pleading for it.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

Ari had known exactly what Isaac had meant when he asked her if it was a person that had caused the cut on her lip, instead of the bogus story she made up. It was common knowledge that Isaac was abused by his father before his death. He would come to school with various injuries and even though he always seemed to have an excuse, (really good ones at that) people talked, and soon rumors were going around school about him.

She didn't feel bad for lying to him. It wasn't any of his fucking business. Who care's if he got the shit kicked out of him every once in awhile? It happens to a lot of people and it obviously didn't happen to him enough since he was still a complete and total sarcastic shit.

After she had denied it he had laid off though, and for that she was actually grateful. She just wanted to forget that it had ever happened. That was how she handled all of her problems; by pushing them to the back of her mind until eventually she didn't have to think about it at all.

Isaac didn't speak to her again for the rest class. He merely sat next to her working on their assignment wordlessly. He didn't even comment on how she wasn't helping him at all, though she doubted that he trusted her with any of the chemicals anyway.

They were finished before any of the other groups were, and Isaac called Mr. Harris over to check it out.

He told Isaac that his work was _'perfect, absolutely perfect'_ and asked if Ari had done anything to help him with it and he replied coolly that she had. Mr. Harris didn't seem to question it, though when he looked at her his eyes lingered on her lip.

In fact, it was then that Ari realized that Mr. Harris didn't bother her at all the day. From the moment she had walked in he had abruptly ignored her.

It started to make sense to her then as she began to notice a pattern, because the only times that Mr. Harris never bashed on her relentlessly were the times in which she came to class with an injury. It was as if he couldn't bring himself to harp on someone who was already wounded.

Or maybe secretly he knew where it had come from and thought that she had been punished enough for the time being. Because she knows that people talk about her and her; how she always looks tired and rugged and comes to school with random bruises and cuts that she can never seem to explain fully.

She can hear them sometimes, even though their tones are hushed and she knows that they have some sort of clue what it happening, but none of them ever say anything and she doesn't know if that should bring her relief or not.

Ari jumps when the bell rings and Isaac looks over to her curiously. He shifts in his seat before turning towards her just slightly.

"We start our tutoring sessions tomorrow." He said before gathering his things into his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "So make sure you have all of your shit together. I'm warning you ahead of time that I'm not going to tolerate any excuses."

He stood up from his seat and began to walk away before stopping almost hesitantly. After a few moments of jerking forward and back, he finally turned around and advanced so that he was standing before her once again.

"Oh and by the way," He added as he bent across the table and brought his face to the side of hers. She felt his left hand slip inside of her right one as his curls tickled her cheek.

"Here's a tip Ari" His lips brushed just barely against her ear, "Never let someone push you around, no matter what _authority_ you think they might have over you."

He leaned away and let go of her hand leaving something papery in its wake. She gripped onto the object before it fell lifelessly to floor. She watched him closely as he turned away from her to leave.

He didn't once look back.

It wasn't until he was fully gone that she looked down to her hand, where under the curve of her fingers was the dollar that she had thrown at him last night. The same _FUCK YOU_ in her messy hand writing placed in the corner.

She laughed bitterly and stuffed it in the front of her hoodie before she stretched out her right hand, trying to ignore the fact that it felt like it was on _fire._

* * *

**First of all I would like to apologize for the length but I felt like it was neccesary to gain some more character development and hopefully show why they act the way they do. Also, I just couldn't stop writing, it's a bad habit of mine haha. **

**Don't forget to tell me what you think! :D**

**Thanks for reading! 3  
**


	3. Rage

**Special thanks to all the people who reviewed on the last** **chapter! I love you all to death!**

* * *

Isaac isn't proud of what he does after school.

He really isn't.

In fact if Isaac feels anything about it, he feels shame.

Immense amounts of shame.

Because when the last bell rang for the day and school was finally let out Isaac left all of his belongings in his locker, and left the school in a rush. He ditched the car that Derek had given him in the parking lot and did something he really knew he shouldn't have been doing.

Isaac _really _isn't proud of what he did that day.

Because Isaac followed Ari home.

He knew that there was something going on with her and that she wasn't going to tell him anything. So he took it upon himself to find out the answers on his own. Call it curiosity, a death wish, or just plain stupidity, but either way it happened.

He blamed it on Ari. There was just something in the way that she looked at him earlier that unsettled him. So when he saw her walk out of the front doors of the school, her old backpack strapped securely to her shoulders, he didn't think about it. He just did it; left his things behind and rationalized that he could always go and get them later. He realized that this probably wasn't the best way to find out what he wanted to know, because if Ari ever found out she would fucking ream him alive.

He waited a few minutes to let her get a head start before he went after her. He took the direction that he had seen her walk in everyday after school, and then less than a minute later she came into his view.

He ran briskly over the other side of the road and used that side walk instead, fearing that walking behind her was too obvious.

It also made him feel like less of a pervert.

But not any less of a stalker, because he knew deep in the back of his mind that what he was doing right now was definitely considered stalking.

He decided that there wasn't much he could at this point besides embrace it and began to watch Ari closely as she walked. Watched as she dragged her feet lethargically, one in front of the other. Watched the way her overgrown hair bounced and whipped with every step she took. Watched the way her head bobbed from side to side, like she didn't have the energy to hold it straight on the top of her head.

He even listened in on her heartbeat, pounding away; slow and steady.

Around ten minutes into the walk her heart rate began to pick up.

Another minute and he could smell the anxiety that was rolling off of her.

Her pace slowed but her heart rate still accelerated.

She was now walking half her normal pace.

It was then that Isaac noticed that Ari had started to look around. Her head was jerking back and forth almost wildly. He began to look around as well trying to figure out what she was looking for. The smell of her anxiety was thick around him and mixed with paranoia.

After he looked around everywhere he possibly could and didn't find anything worth staring at, he took a moment to really _look_ at where they were.

They were on Southside; the shitty part of town and as close to ghetto as Beacon Hills can get.

Then it hit him. Ari wasn't looking for something. She was _scared._

It didn't make sense to Isaac. Why would Ari be scared of her own neighborhood? Admittedly it was shady as fuck here, but he was almost positive that she had grown up here and therefore shouldn't she be used to it by now?

The houses around them started to get trashier and trashier and Isaac started to think that maybe he should turn back while he still had a chance.

Instead Isaac sunk deeper into the trees on the other side of the road and continued to watch from afar.

Ari's heart was suddenly beating so erratically that he figured she was either almost home or about to go into cardiac arrest.

Suddenly she turned to walk towards a house that had a mass of random people outside and when she got closer they all started to cat call her, yelling out nasty requests and orders. All of them were sexual. Isaac frowned and Ari just continued to look forward, almost as if she wasn't paying them any attention at all.

She didn't even make it to the front door before it opened and out came a man. Isaac could smell the horrid stench coming off of him from across the street. He made a beeline for Ari and reached out to her gripping her upper arm roughly.

"Ow!" She yelled and tried to yank her arm free.

The man gripped onto it harder before pushing her away from him and towards the front door.

"Get your ass inside." He slurred.

Isaac watched as Ari obeyed and walked into the door. He didn't feel right letting her go inside but felt like he was glued to the spot that he was standing.

The man grumbled and angrily stomped in after her shutting the door hard behind him after he made it inside.

And then it hit him again. Ari wasn't afraid of her neighborhood. She was _afraid to go home._

Isaac shifted where he stood and listened in on what was happening inside the house.

At first all he heard was shuffling and a soft thump on the ground, possibly where Ari had set her bag down. There was more shuffling and soft footsteps. Other footsteps joined in that were louder and faster before unexpectedly Isaac heard a loud _smack._ It sounded like skin hitting skin. Almost instantly after, he heard the sound of a body landing hard against the ground.

Ari groaned and whined. "What the fuck?" She said.

"Don't talk to your father that way you little shit!" The man shouted. "Especially after your mother and me found out what you were hiding from us!"

"What are you talking about?"

Isaac heard another smacking sound and flinched.

"DON'T PLAY DUMB!" The man roared. "The money you stole from me and your mother!"

He heard the sound of someone, most likely Ari, getting up off of the ground. "That was _my_ money!" She screamed. "I'm the one that worked for it, not you!"

"I gave you life, you ungrateful brat." Her father yelled back. "You owe me EVERYTHING! And how do you repay me? By stealing from your mother and me, that's how! I took all of it back! That'll teach you to hide things from me!"

"I didn't steal anything! I worked for that money all on my own. It was MINE. Give it back!"

A body hit the wall, and Isaac didn't need to see it happen to know whose it was. He heard Ari wince and the sound of her body sliding slow down the wall before resting on the floor.

"You live under my roof! It was mine god dammit." The man cried. "What did I do to deserve such a disobedient and retarded child? You ruined my life the day you were born! You're nothing! Less than nothing and absolutely worthless. Now get the fuck up off your lazy ass and go into the room and do your job! It's all your useful for anyway."

There was complete silence following that. The only sound Isaac could here was breathing, and most of it was his own ragged breaths.

He almost thought that everything was over until heard Ari speak again.

"No." She said defiantly.

Even though she sounded sure of herself Isaac could hear the fear in her voice. He could tell how scared she was to say it and just how unsure she actually was.

There was more silence before Isaac heard a shuffling of feet and the sound of bone cracking against bone. Ari let out a scream and landed on the floor again.

"What did you say to me?"

She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "No." She repeated. "I said no."

He father let out a roar and Isaac could hear more shuffling but he couldn't tell what was going on at all, but then suddenly he could hear bloodcurdling screams and they were all leaving Ari's mouth.

"STOP! PLEASE STOP!" She yelled.

He screaming stopped and instead she started whimpering, and Isaac thought that maybe he could hear her starting to cry but he couldn't tell for sure.

"Are you going to listen to me now or do I need to teach you another lesson and throw you into the basement?" He growled.

And no, no, no, no, no, _no._

Just no.

Isaac needed to leave. He needed to get out of here now.

He couldn't do this. He shouldn't have done this. This was a bad idea.

"Please no, I-I'll listen I'll be good I p-promise. P-please don't h-hurt me." She started _begging._

Isaac needed to go now.

He needed to get as far away from this house as possible.

He felt like the worst human being on the planet when he started to run. But he could still hear Ari screaming and the sound of her whimpers and he could still hear the way her voice sounded when she was begging and he needed to just not hear any of it at all.

He felt guilty. He felt like he was leaving her for dead. He should have gone in there and helped her. She didn't _deserve_ that. But he couldn't stop running now. There was no way he would be able to turn around at this point. So he ran and he ran and he _ran._

He was far enough away now that he shouldn't be able to hear her crying but he still could. It was playing over and over in his mind.

"STOP!" He yelled into the trees the surrounded him.

His voice echoed back at him and he ran harder after hitting himself in the face with his fist. It wasn't until the woods around him started to have some sort of order that he realized he was now on Derek's property. He could see from the area around him that he was close to his house and picked up his pace even more.

When Derek's house finally came into view he practically started crying from relief. He just barely slowed his pace down before barreling through the front door and flying into the sitting area of the den.

He looked up to his pack mates, who were all there minus Derek and Stiles, and they were looking at him like he had gone insane.

It wasn't long before they sensed something was wrong and pounced on him.

All of sudden they were all crowded around him and asking questions; throwing them at him all at once.

"_Isaac why are you late?"_

"_Where's your car?"_

"_Dude, what's wrong?"_

"_Did you run all the way here?"_

"_Holy shit man, are you okay?" _

"_What's going on?"_

He couldn't process all of them at once. He couldn't filter anything through his mind. He could barely think right now. He didn't know what to answer first and didn't know what he shouldn't answer at all.

For Ari's sake he knew he shouldn't answer any of them.

So he didn't.

"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted.

He raked his hand through his hair and glared at them all. They didn't say anything and instead just continued to stare at him in shock.

Scott was the first to step towards him. "Isaac man, are you okay?" He asked.

Isaac stepped around him, shoulder checking him, and walked towards the stairs muttering, "I'm fucking fine."

He took the stairs by threes and practically ran to his room where he threw the door open and slammed it so hard behind him that he almost tore it off its hinges.

* * *

**I'm sorry they don't really talk at all in this one but this part of the story is really important! (As well as Isaac's reaction to it) ****I'll most likely be posting a longer chapter tomorrow and you'll get to see them interact more :D Don't forget to review if you'd like to! I don't mind at all :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Impulse

**Another chapter! :D Thank you guys so much for all the sweet reviews! :') You guys are too amazing.**

* * *

Ari staggered to the bathroom breathless, her body screaming in protest. She can't bring her to look in the mirror. She's so overwhelmed with emotion and pain that she falls over, shaking. Her stomach curls in on itself and her mouth waters. She barely reaches the toilet before she vomits.

She uses the sleeve of her hoodie and wipes at her mouth. She winces as she gets up and walks over to the sink. She opened the medicine cabinet and reached for the pair of tweezers resting on the top shelf. She gripped onto them gingerly and leaned over the sink, picking at the shards of glass in her palms. She tried to get at much of it out as possible. Her vision became blurring and her eyes filled with tears.

With every little piece she took out, she breathed in deeply. The sink isn't even white anymore. Drops of blood cover the counter, the toilet, and the sink. She had lost so much blood that she started to get dizzy. She grabbed two rags and wrapped them around her palms.

Ari was proud of herself for not looking in the mirror.

She walked out of the bathroom and went up the hallway to her bedroom. Her breaths were shallow and her heartbeat was slow. She locked the door to her room behind her and breathed in deeply. She turned the light switch off and walked blindly to her bed. She didn't bother changing and instead collapsed on her bed, clutching her chest as she cried herself to sleep.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

Isaac was curled up on his bed, and he felt like he was fourteen again. All he could think about was Ari and how her father reminded him so much of his. He understood why Ari thought he was douche; because someone who wasn't a douche wouldn't have just left Ari in there to fend for herself.

He should have done something.

He should have called someone.

But no, all he did was run away the same way he had ran from his own problems for all those years. Running away was the only thing that Isaac knew how to do. It was the only thing he was good at.

Isaac closed his eyes and willed sleep to come

_He opened his eyes to complete darkness. It was cold and he was cramped inside of a small area; his long limbs overlapping each other. He started to panic and let out a shaky breath. He felt like he was in a box. Isaac raised his hands and stretched them out only to feel the surface of cold walls. He put his hands up and felt along the shallow ceiling. _

_It only took him another moment before he realized where he was._

_He was in the freezer._

_His heartbeat picked up speed and pounded so hard against his ribcage that Isaac could feel it beating everywhere on his body. The sound turned into a hammer in his ears. He kicked the wall in front of him and thrashed his body around. He punched the side of the wall, pounding his fists against it relentlessly. He searched and searched for a way out, for an exit, for some way to **get the fuck out.** He tried harder and harder, only to fail every time. He heard the sound of heavy footsteps walking towards the freezer. He stopped moving and sucked in a breath.. His heart came to a complete stop and his eyes widened in terror._

_The freezer door opened and he recoiled back. _

_His bastard of a father looked down at him with cold hard eyes. He whimpered._

"_Are you going to be a good boy now, Isaac?"_

Isaac heard a scream come from his throat but didn't remember releasing it. He looked around himself wildly only to find the familiar scene of his room.

He raised his head to see Derek standing over him looking worried. Isaac rolled around only to feel the hardwood floor instead of the soft cushioning of his bed. He realized that he was panting and sweating and confused. He laid the back of his head on the floor and calmed down slightly.

_It was just a dream. _

He could hear the pack trying to get in his room. The scent of their worry was thick in the air and it made him feel dizzy. He couldn't focus on what they were saying and before he could even begin to process any of hit, Derek pushed them out of the door closing and locking it.

Derek bent over him. "Isaac, what's going on?" He asked.

Isaac tried his best to regain his breath. Derek stared at him intensely and Isaac knew that he isn't going to let this go too easily.

"Uhh nothing," He said. "It was just a bad dream, that's all."

He couldn't look him in the eye and he's almost positive that he knew it too.

Derek sighed and lifted his body so that he was standing straight up, though he was still staring down at Isaac. He stayed silent. Isaac thought that he might be waiting for him to explain himself but he didn't plan on telling Derek anything so this could be a long night.

Surprisingly, it wasn't long before Derek sighed and Isaac saw him turn away. He made it halfway to the door before Isaac closed his eyes and dropped his tense body back into the floor. He relaxed into the stiff material of the hardwood flooring and began to relish in the way the cold surface soothed his hot skin.

He heard Derek open the door before closing it softly behind himself.

The pack must have been waiting outside of his door because the moment the door is completely shut they bombarded Derek with questions about Isaac, similar to the ones they had asked him earlier.

"Isaac is fine." Is all Derek tells them before leaving them to walk down the stairs.

Isaac used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off of his face and rolled onto his side. He moved slow and took his time in getting up. When he finally rose to his feet he noticed just how bad his head was throbbing. He walked the few steps to his bed before literally falling on top of it.

He could still hear his pack standing outside of his room and he wondered if they were ever going to just leave him the fuck alone.

He moved on his bed so that he was staring up at the ceiling. It felt like hours before he finally heard them move outside of his door. He waited for them to leave but instead only heard them settle down, getting comfortable on the ground twenty feet away from him.

He groaned before turning on his side, letting his back face the door.

He could still them when he drifted back asleep.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

Isaac raced to Chemistry class that morning, in a rush to make sure that Ari was okay. He sat in his seat and fidgeted, counting down the seconds until the bell would finally ring.

The first bell rang and Ari hadn't shown up to class yet. He bit his lip and continued to wait. The second bell rang and Ari still wasn't there.

Isaac began to worry.

_She's dead. Oh my god, I left her for dead. I left her there and ran away. I'm such a selfish bastard. I killed her. This is my entire fault, I should have done something. I could have saved her, but I just **ran away**. This is my entire fault. I'm the reason she is dead._

The door to the classroom opened and Isaac's head whipped up. He sighed in relief when he realized that it was Ari that had walked in, the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her face.

Mr. Harris cornered her. "Miss Gibbens, please explain to me why you are 10 minutes late to my class."

"I slept in on accident." She said softly.

Mr. Harris sighed and wrote something down on his clipboard. "Can I ask why you are wearing your hood up when you know that hat's aren't allowed in my classroom?"

She moved back and forth on her feet before she shrugged, unsure of herself.

"Put your hood down." He ordered.

She didn't protest and instead pulled her hood down turning her face as far away from him as possible.

Isaac could see the dark outline of a black eye tried to look away but he couldn't.

"On second thought, put your hood back up." Mr. Harris' face was a mask of disgust and he quickly turned away from her only to begin passing out papers.

Ari pulled up her hood up and walked quickly over to her seat next to him. Isaac looked around and saw that the rest of the class was watching her. They whispered to each about her and laughed.

Ari sat down next to Isaac and his eyes were drawn to the cuts on her hands that looked worse than they did the day before. She didn't look at him at all and instead stared at the counter, unmoving, for half of the class.

He needed to say something. He sucked in a breath and forced the words to come out. "Was it another crack?"

"What?" she said.

He took his hand and gestured to the area around her bruised eye.

"Oh! Yeah.. umm yeah it was. The same one and everything.. Weird right?"

Isaac nodded at her and moved his chair closer to hers in the most inconspicuous way possible. "The city should really get those fixed.. Who knows what might happen to you next time."

She looked down and nodded in return. "Yeah.."

He looked to the front of the class and then back down to the counter. "So about the whole tutoring thing…are we still on for that today?"

"It's not like I have a choice." She sighed.

Isaac wasn't sure how to respond to her so he didn't and in return Ari didn't say anything else for the rest of class. The bell rang and Ari practically sprinted for the door. She was gone before Isaac even thought about getting out of his seat.

The rest of the day was a complete blur of voices and nameless faces. He couldn't focus in any of his classes. His mind always seemed to wander away from him.

After he struggled to pay attention for an hour in American History he just gave up.

When the last bell for the day rung, he moved as quickly as he could to get out of the school. He just couldn't be inside there anymore.

Isaac hurried out the front doors to his car. He pulled out of the school parking lot and started driving, not even thinking, which for Isaac is a deadly combination. He saw a mess of ashy blonde hair and pulled over without hesitation.

Ari looked over with a face of confusion and groaned. "Isaac.. What the fuck?"

"We have tutoring? Or did you somehow forget, despite the fact that I've reminded you multiple times?" He had to force himself not to look at her black eye.

She laughed and started walking again. "Oh trust me, I remember. I was just hoping that you were fucking with me."

He accelerated the car so that he was driving next to her at the same pace she walked. "Get in Ari."

"Ummm don't tell me what to do, fuck wad."

Isaac gripped his steering so hard his knuckles turned white. "Get in my fucking car."

"No." She glared at him and continued walking.

He sighed. "Fine, have fun repeating Chemistry next year with Mr. Harris."

Her jaw clenched and she groaned. "Pull the fucking car over."

Isaac turned his head away from her and smiled. He slowed the car down and stopped next to the curb where she was standing. She faced the car door and stared at it for a second. She bit down on her lip and slowly reached her hand out to grab the handle hesitantly. She took her time while she pulled on the handle and made a pained face. She dragged herself into the seat and closed the door softly before leaning her head against it.

Most of the ride went by in silence. He felt like he should say something, but once again drew blanks. That had been happening to him a lot lately.

They were almost to Derek's house when out of the corner of his eye Isaac saw Ari reach into her bag and pull something out. He turned his head and saw a pack of cigarettes in her hand. She opened it and pulled out a lighter.

"Dude, can I smoke in your car?" She asked.

He quickly snatched the pack of cigarettes out of her hand, making sure not to touch the cuts, and chucked it out his open window. "Hell no."

She made a whining sound. "Dude what the fuck! You could have just said no, you didn't have to waste the rest of my pack. God, you're a dick."

"My mom died of lung cancer."

She looked at him incredulously. "_Andddd_?"

He looked over to her angrily. "Anddddd you're not going to fucking smoke around me; especially inside of my car."

She twirled the lighter in her hands. "Oh I get it, you're one of those 'secondhand smoke kills' bastards."

He took a deep breath and reached over to her again, prying the lighter from her fingertips, tossing it out the window like he had the cigarettes.

"You fucking dick! You owe me more cigarettes and a lighter!" She wailed.

"I don't owe you shit. Now shut the fuck up."

Ari didn't say anything else the whole ride. She simply sat in the passenger seat with her arms crossed staring out the window. Isaac rolled his eyes at the fact that she was pouting.

It wasn't long before Derek's house came into view. Ari sat up straighter in her seat and leaned towards the windshield while she checked it out.

"Holy shit." She said. "Is this the Hale house? Last time I saw it, it was burnt to a crisp."

He pulled his car into the space between Derek's Camaro and Jackson's Porsche. "Yeah, well there were some renovations."

She nodded and got out of his car. Isaac turned off the engine and got out as well leaving the keys in the ignition and not even bothering to lock it. He led Ari towards the house and opened the front door, letting her walk in first. He closed the door behind them and took his jacket off hanging it on one of the hooks nailed to the wall.

Ari looked around the house with raised eyebrows. "Not bad."

"Yeah." Isaac said and began walking towards the living room area. "Come on, I think everyone's in the kitchen."

She followed behind him as he walked, and continued to look all around the house. When they reached the kitchen Isaac saw that Jackson, Scott, Allison, Stiles, and Boyd were all situated around the counter talking to each other.

They all turned and looked at them at the same time and he grimaced. Isaac walked up to an empty space at the counter and leaned against it. Ari stepped into the space next to him and shifted uncomfortably. Isaac noticed that now they were all staring right at her.

"Oh my god," Stiles said. "What happened to your face?"

Ari's face paled and turned away from him. "I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk." She mumbled.

The pack all exchanged looks and the atmosphere suddenly grew extremely awkward.

Allison grabbed her arm and looked at the cuts that covered her palm. "What happened to your hands?"

She jerked her arm away and pulled her sleeves down so they covered her palms completely. "Ohh those, umm there was broken glass around the crack.. Um beer bottle glass, yeah.. My neighbors are assholes."

Allison nodded. "Right."

Nobody said anything after that. Isaac wanted to shoot himself in the head. He figured at that point he should step in say something but once again had no idea what to say.

Boyd was the first to speak after that.

"So.." He looked over to Isaac and Ari. "What are you two up to?.."

"Uhhh" Isaac shuffled his feet and gripped the counter. "I'm Ari's tutor.."

Jackson laughed suddenly and nudged Isaac with his elbow. "Righhhht, you're her _tutor_."

Ari frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on," He said. "You guys are totally fucking."

She narrowed her eyes and him before realization dawned on her face. She nodded and lifted her shoulders in compliance.

Jackson smirked at her and reached into his pocket before he pulled something out and slid it across the counter at Ari. "Well in that case, you might need this for later." He said.

Ari picked it up and looked at it before flipping it over in her hands, reading the wrapper.

_Trojan Regular_

She laughed and tossed it back at Jackson. "Sorry Jackson but that's _wayyy_ too small for Isaac."

Jackson's smirked melted off his face and he fumbled to catch the condom that she threw back at him. Scott, who was mid-drink, suddenly choked and water sprayed all over him and landed on the counter.

"No seriously, you should see him with his pants off. I was totally shocked the first time he whipped it out, because I mean look at him, he's scrawny as fuck. You wouldn't guess it at first but he's hung like a horse. And he has the best stamina. He just keeps going and going and—"

Isaac's jaw dropped and he quickly put his hand over Ari's mouth. "Oh my _GOD._ Shut up."

He kept his hand pressed over her lips and began to drag her towards the staircase. She didn't protest until they reached the bottom of the steps where she sucker punched him in the gut. He retracted his hands quickly and glared at her as he clutched his stomach.

"Ohh someone's eager." She smiled. "Lead the way, Sex God." She moved her arm exaggeratedly, presenting the stair case to him.

He glared at her and walked up the staircase quickly. She followed closely behind him. He stepped inside his room and waited for Ari to enter after him before he slammed the door shut.

He turned around and she was already perched on his bed, her bag resting on the floor. "What the fuck was that?" He asked.

"Come on man, I totally had your back down there!"

"No, _seriously_. What the _FUCK_ was that?" He yelled.

She rolled her eyes and laid back on his bed. "Dude Jackson is like the biggest douche ever. Everyone in grade nine through twelve knows it. Hell, everyone in town knows it!"

"No." He glared at her. "You don't understand. I am _never_ going to hear the end of that."

"Oh my god dude, lighten up. So what? You're friends think you're sexually active and that you have a huge dick? There are worse things in life."

He made a disgusted face. "There is something seriously wrong with you."

"Like what? I actually have a sense of humor? Hate to break it to you but most people do, except for you apparently, who got the short end of the stick on that one."

He balled his fists at his sides and sighed. "Whatever. I need a glass of water. I'll be right back." He said as he walked towards the door.

"Don't touch any of my shit." He added as an afterthought.

She made a mocking face and rolled her eyes.

He left the room in a huff and slammed the door behind him again.

Isaac didn't really need a glass of water, but needed an excuse to cool off before he did something incredibly stupid like wolf out in front of her. He stomped his way to the upstairs bathroom and locked the door behind him. He leaned over the counter and took a deep breath. He reached for the faucet and turned the cold water on. He cupped his hands underneath the stream and knelt down to splash his face.

He spent a few more minutes taking deep breaths before he unlocked the door and exited. He walked slowly back to his room and when he reached the door he took another breath before he pushed it open.

The first thing he saw when he looked inside was Ari, who was rummaging through the drawer of his beside table. She had all of his belongings strung out on the bed in front of her.

"Are you fucking serious?" He growled.

She ignored him and pulled more of his things out. He watched in horror as she reached her hand into the far back and pulled out a small box of condoms.

"I was right!" She yelled after reading the label. She was grinning wildly. "Your dick _is_ big!"

Isaac felt his mouth fall open in shock. He was officially _done._ "You know what? That's it. I can't do this. I'm taking you home."

"But I thought we were going to do it!" She whined.

"Get OUT!" He screamed.

She laughed and threw the condoms back in his drawer. "Stop fucking with me."

He glared at her. "I'm not fucking with you. Get the hell out."

"No seriously, get your books out. Let's get this whole tutoring show on the road. I have places to be and I don't have all night."

His mouth opened in shock again. She was _unbelievable_. "Fine." He spat. "But seriously, get the fuck out of my room. We're not doing it in here since you obviously can't respect my stuff."

She looked taken aback. "So we are going to do it?"

"NO!" He yelled. "I meant the tutoring!"

She got up off his bed and grabbed her bag off the floor. "I know, I was just fucking with you dude. You really _don't_ have a sense of humor _do _you?"

"You know what, why don't we just do the tutoring thing another day? I actually wanted to talk to you about something before I took you home anyway, and I can't do it here."

She shrugged. "Fine, whatever. But you're dropping me off at the bus station because I don't want you to end up stalking me after you find out where I live."

Isaac thought of the day before when he followed her home and felt his face heat up. He turned away quickly so she didn't see the red form on his cheeks. "Like I'd actually waste my time stalking you."

_Real smooth Isaac. _

By the time he finally ushered her out of his room and got her down the stairs the rest of the pack was gone.

He had never felt so relieved.

They didn't speak while they left the house and walked to his car. They got inside wordlessly and when Isaac started the engine he noticed that Ari had her head leant up against the window again, and this time her eyes closed.

He drove slowly, trying to drag this as long as possible. He had planned to ask Ari about her eye after she lied again about how she got it. There was no way that she was just going to tell him on her own time and Isaac needed to hear the truth come out of her mouth. So he figured, why not just ask?

Admittedly he knew that it was a bad idea and that it would probably end badly as well but there was not way he could turn back now.

He pulled the car into the parking lot of the park and Ari lifted her head to look out of the window.

He got out of the car before she could speak and thankfully she followed suit and got out too, bringing her bag with her.

"We're at a park?.." She said.

Isaac could see the confusion on her face and just nodded. "Yeah, I need to ask you something."

She looked at him suspiciously. "Alright."

Isaac walked to a bench close to where he parked his car and sat down in the middle. Ari followed him sat down on the edge, as far away from Isaac as she could get.

Isaac breathed in deeply and let it out. He had no clue how to lead into this so went on impulse and just blurted it out.

"Your father hits you doesn't he?" He cringed at how unsympathetic and harsh the words sounded coming from his mouth.

Ari let out a breathy laugh. "What are you talking about it?"

Isaac scooted in closer to her on the bench. "You don't have to lie to me."

"I'm not lying." Her voice sounded strained. "Is it because of the black eye that you think that? Because I already told you that was an accident. It was all my fault."

Isaac shook his head and locked eyes with her. "That wasn't an accident Ari, and it wasn't your fault."

"Shut up, Isaac." She turned her face away from his so he couldn't see her face and looked off to the other side of the park.

"No." He said. "You need to hear this. You don't deserve any of that Ari. God, you have so much potential and you don't even realize it! You're beautiful and intelligent and I know that if you just applied yourself that you wouldn't be failing. And you shouldn't let your father push you around like that and tell you that you're worthless because you're not. You don't owe him anything!"

Ari glared at him, pushing him away from her and jumped up from the bench. "You know what? Fuck you Isaac. Fuck you. Fuck you and your fuck your stupid life. You think you're helping me? You think that my life is suddenly going to change now that you're my tutor? That my grades are going to magically get better and I'm going to go off to college and meet the love of my life and get married and have kids and die smiling because my life was so amazing? That's you Isaac, that's not me. You're the one with the redemption tale. You're going to fucking go off to some fancy college and make it out of here. You're going to go and marry some stupid gorgeous girl, and then you two are going to go off and be gorgeous together, and make gorgeous babies because that's what gorgeous people do. And it's like you don't even realize it; like somehow you're managing to take it all for granted! Do you know what's going to happen to me Isaac? I'm going to fucking die in this town. I will never make it out of here alive."

Isaac stepped closer to her but she backed away, so he stepped in quicker and gripped onto her shoulders angrily. "Yeah well fuck you too Ari! Don't act like you know anything about me because you don't. You don't _anything_ about me. You don't know anything _at all_." He spat just inches away from her face.

He didn't mean to say any of that but it just came out and from the look on Ari's face he knew he couldn't take it back now.

She ripped his hands from her shoulders and pushed him hard in the chest. He staggered backwards barely catching his balance.

"Yeah and you don't know shit about me either, SO STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY LIFE." She screamed backing away from again. "And don't even fucking bother driving me to the bus station, I'll find my own way home."

Ari grabbed her bag off of the bench and started to walk away from him.

Isaac brought his hands to his hair and pulled at it. He tried to call out to her, but his mouth wouldn't move. He could feel his face starting to shift and panicked.

Ari was already at least a hundred yards away from him and there was no way he could fix this now. He turned in the opposite direction she went and _ran_.

Again.

* * *

**Soo that's the end of the chapter! Sorry if this one's a little weird, me and my best friend wrote it together and we get a little weird when we're around each other haha. And it's literally 5 in the morning so I'm not going to lie, ****my minds a little hazy. Feel free to tell me what you think!**

**Thanks for reading! :D**

**(Also this was a really important part of the story because major shit starts to go down after this. Things get better between them soon though I PROMISE!)**


	5. Tighter

**To the people who reviewed last chapter, thank you! I'm glad you liked it!**

* * *

Ari finally reached her house, three hours later, after walking the whole way home. She knew that she could have called Sarah, but she also knew that Sarah would end up asking her questions that she didn't want to answer. She walked inside of the front door and stepped over various sleeping bodies heading straight for her bedroom. She turned the light on and threw her bag into the corner. It landed with a muted thump as she closed the door behind her. She started to pace back and forth, trying to get the image of Isaac screaming at her out of her head. She began to heat up with anger and ripped off her sweatshirt throwing it in the same direction as her bag.

The night wouldn't stop replaying in her mind; it was torture.

She shouldn't have gotten in his car.

She knew it was a bad idea the second he pulled up next to her.

She shouldn't have gone to his house.

The way that all of Isaac's friends had looked her the moment they walked in the kitchen had said that much. She didn't belong there with any of them. She might have been able to play nice long enough to make friends with them, until Jackson decided to be a prick, and sunk that ship for her.

Ari still couldn't believe that they had asked about her face so hastily. It was probably some huge joke between all of them that Isaac was apart of. Maybe that was why he wouldn't lay off about the abuse thing. She could see it in his eyes every time he looked at her that he felt sorry for her. She didn't want to be pitied by anyone, and especially not by Isaac Lahey.

He had look so embarrassed after he had walked in on her going through his bedside table. Condoms were the last thing that she had expected to find in there. She had never really taken Isaac for the type of guy to actually go out and buy condoms.

For some reason the thought of Isaac having sex was painful for Ari.

Isaac… She couldn't stop thinking about him and she didn't know why. The way he brought her to the park so they could be alone and then asked the single question she hoped she would never be asked by anyone for as long as she lived.

She _really_ hated him for that, but couldn't help liking the fact that he never seemed to spare her feelings just because he felt sorry for her.

When he scooted in closer to her on the bench she had never wanted to run so much in her life. The way his face looked when he turned to her, sincere and unforgiving, and he said that he thought she was beautiful and intelligent.

Nobody had ever looked her at like that before.

Nobody had ever called her beautiful.

Until now, where Isaac Lahey had been the first person to ever direct the foreign phrase in her direction.

It made her feel sick.

She sat down on her bed and buried her face in her hands. Her stomach hurt, and felt funny. It was as if all of her organs had decided to jump around inside of her.

She laid back on her bed, eyes closed, and thought about how he said that she shouldn't let her father push her around. That she wasn't worthless and didn't owe him anything. It reminded her of what her father had said to her the night before.

_"You're nothing! Less than nothing and absolutely worthless."_

_"You owe me EVERYTHING!__"_

But how would Isaac know about any of that? She hadn't told him about it. She hadn't told anyone about it. There was no way that it could have been a coincidence because his words were too spot on.

None of it made any sense to her.

How the _fuck_ did he know?

Then it hit her. There was only one way that he could know that. Know that her father hits her, and know what he said to her.

"That motherfucker must have followed me home." She said to herself.

That was the only plausible explanation and it didn't just make her angry. No, she was way past angry at this point. She was fuming; absolutely _livid_. The thought of Isaac stalking her, knowing where she lived, listening to her getting her ass _reamed_ by her father; it made her see red.

She couldn't believe it.

Partly because even if that's what happened it still didn't make sense. Even if he had followed her home, the shit with her father happened inside of the house. There was no way he could have heard it from all the way outside.

It was almost as if he was in the room with them when it happened, but that was impossible.

Her head started to throb as she felt exhausted. Thinking of all of that stuff was emotionally draining.

Ari really needed to sleep.

She rolled over on her side and rested her head on her pillow. She didn't bother turning the light off because the thought of getting up made her body ache.

She knew one thing though, Isaac was not going to get away with this.

No, she was going to make him pay for being such a creep.

She promised herself that first thing in the morning she would go and confront him.

She didn't dream at all that night.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

Ari pulled out her phone and dialed a number that she knew front to back. The phone rang in her ear before a sleepy voice answered her. "Hello?"

"Sarah." She said. "I need a _huge_ favor."

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

Sarah pulled her car up in front of the Hale house and stopped, shutting the car off. "Why are we here?... At seven in the morning?" She asked.

Ari grabbed her bag from the space around her feet and opened the door. She got out and leaned down to look at Sarah.

"I'll explain it all later." She said. "I just need you to leave now okay, and don't come back unless I call."

Sarah shook her head. "I'm not going to leave you here alone Ari."

"Please, Sarah. Just go. Okay, if I need help I promise I will call you."

Sarah stared at Ari before she started the car again. "Alright, fine. But I swear to god if you get hurt.. Just.. be careful. Okay, promise me that?"

Ari nodded. "I promise."

She closed the car door and stepped back from it waving to her friend. She watched as Sarah backed up and turned the car around, slowly driving away.

She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she was going to do next. She willed herself to move forward and stormed up the front steps of the porch.

When she reached the door she pounded her fist against it repeatedly until Derek Hale, who she vaguely recognized, finally opened the door. She had never met him, but saw his picture in the paper a few times after his house burnt down.

There was the sound of movement from inside the house but she ignored it. When she looked up to Derek he was glaring at her. She glared right back and stepped closer to him.

"Where the fuck is he?"

Derek raised his eyebrow. "Who?"

She pushed roughly past him and stepped into his house, a few of the people she had seen Isaac with around school were sitting in the living room area spread out amongst the furniture.

"Isaac! You fucking bastard," She screamed at the top of her lungs. "I know you're here!"

The others in the living room looked at her strangely while she waited for a response. Ari waited a whole minute and heard nothing in return.

Derek grabbed her by the arm suddenly and pulled her towards the door. "I think you need to leave."

Ari glared at him again and pushed him off of her. "I will fucking wreck you." She said to him as she walked further into his house.

"ISAAC! YOU FUCKING **PUSSY,** GET OUT HERE!" She screamed.

There were another few moments of silence before she heard soft footsteps and saw Isaac walking around one of the corners in the living room. He stopped just before her. He didn't have enough time to say anything before Ari raged.

She stepped closer to him, getting in his space and pushed him back. "How did you know what my dad said to me?"

Isaac had a confused look on his face. "What?"

"Last night. You repeated almost exactly what he said to me. How did you know that stuff?" She pushed him again. "Did you follow me home or something?"

Isaac backed away from her. "What are you talking about Ari?"

"You know _exactly _what I'm talking about. You did follow me home, didn't you? Didn't you!?" She yelled.

She started walking up to him again, but this time he met her halfway grabbing onto her shoulders before she could push him again. "So what if I did?" He yelled back.

Everyone around them went still.

Ari wrapped her hands around his wrists to pull him off of her but he gripped tighter.

"Why?" She growled.

Isaac sighed and took his hands off of her. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Ari froze. "Bullshit." She stepped back from him. "You're lying! You're a liar and a stalker."

"I wasn't stalking you!" He said desperately and stepped closer reaching out to her. "I was worried about you because you were lying to me."

She backed even further away. "No. Tell me the real reason why! Is it because you're some kind of pervert? Do you get off on it? Is that it?"

Isaac continued to walk towards her while she backed away from him, until her back was flush against the wall next to the front door. She looked panicked as he pressed his arms up against the wall caging her in.

His face was distressed. "No, I followed you because I care! Even if no one else does, I do. Nobody _ever_ deserves to be abused Ari, _especially_ not you."

"No, no, _no_." Ari could feel tears coming to her eyes. She shook her head and pressed her hands on his chest trying to get away from. "Is this some kind of joke? Are you enjoying this? You're fucking sick Isaac."

She continued to try and move him away from her; using her hands to try and push his body away, but he was like a brick wall. Eventually she just gave up and settled for resting her hands on his shoulders. In one quick motion she brought her knee to his groin as hard as she could and Isaac dropped to the ground instantly. He let out a loud groan as she stepped over his body easily. She turned rapidly and ran out of the still open front door.

She sprinted down the steps as fast as she could and bolted for the road.

"Ari, wait!" She heard Isaac call out.

Her speed picked up when she worried that he might run out after her.

Ten minutes later and she finally stopped. She rested her hands on her knees and her vision turned black for a second before returning to full color. She thought she might collapse and slowly went to sit down on a large boulder by the side of the road.

She did her best to catch her breath and reluctantly pulled her phone out of her pocket, cursing herself for not remembering to ask him how he heard her father's words from all the way outside.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

It was Thursday of the following week and Isaac was sitting in his car, waiting for Erica who had asked him for a ride home after school that morning, with his head resting on his steering wheel.

Ari had been ignoring him for over a week.

Everyday in class she refused to look at him and on the rare occasion that he actually put his pride down and asked her a question or tried speaking to her she would say nothing in return. He considered going to her house but figured that was probably the worse thing he could do, considering going to her house was the reason why she was so upset with him in the first place.

Ever since Ari had confronted him he had felt like nothing but shit. He couldn't sleep and he was snapping at his friends and pack members more than usual. All week they had questioned him relentlessly about him and her and about what had happened between them. He refused to answer any of their questions and every time they continued to ask he got more and more angry with them. Eventually he grew fed up and one night, when Jackson asked if now that Ari wasn't talking to him that he had to find a new fuck buddy to replace her, he lashed out. He grabbed one of the vases that Derek bought because Stiles' thought it would 'brighten it up the room', and hurled it so hard at Jackson's head that when it hit him he fell to the ground unconscious covered in pieces of colored glass.

Derek was less than pleased with him.

As was Stiles, who was more angry about him breaking the vase he picked out than the fact that he used it to knock Jackson out.

Jackson eventually apologized for the low blow, but after that it was like the pack was walking on eggshells when they were around him. He knew they thought he was a ticking time bomb and were bracing themselves for the next time he went off, praying that it wasn't on them personally.

He acted like he didn't have any idea why he was so on edge, but thought that deep down he might actually know why he was acting out. He pushed the thought to the back of his head, because if that was the reason, then he might as well shoot himself now and put himself out of his misery.

He refused to admit it to himself even after one night, when Derek asked him to go on a drive with him. He drove aimlessly for miles until he eventually pulled into an empty parking lot and cut the engine. They sat in silence until Derek finally spoke; asking him if he had feelings for Ari and if that was the reason why he had followed her home and why he was now acting like a dick to his friends.

Isaac thought that he probably never looked so horrified in his entire life.

It wasn't until today that Isaac had been able to actually admit his own feelings to himself.

He was sitting in Chemistry and as usual Ari was _still_ ignoring him. Her black eye and split lip were gone, and her hair messy blonde hair was pushed behind her ear. She wasn't wearing the grey sweatshirt that she normally did and instead was wearing a light blue sweater. Her normally harsh green eyes for some reason looked softer that day and the fluorescent lighting was glinting off her shiny lips.

He was staring at her; an act he didn't even realize he was doing, when she turned to look at him for the first time in over a week.

Isaac felt like he had been thrown against a wall.

He couldn't breathe.

She looked like she wanted to say something to him but couldn't bring herself to form the words. He tried to say something, anything at all, but his mind was so far gone that the only thing he could do was to continue to stare.

She stared back at him until the bell rang, where she was gone within a second, leaving Isaac to stare at the empty space where she had just been sitting.

It hit him so hard his vision blurred.

He had an actually crush, for what seemed liked the _first_ time in his _entire_ _life_, and it was on Ari Gibbens.

And to Isaac that's just not okay; because liking Ari is like liking a rabid animal. They're cute from a distance, until you get too close and they end up attacking you mercilessly; leaving you for dead.

He knew Ari well enough to know that she was a vicious breed of female.

And that meant only one thing:

He didn't stand a _chance_.

The passenger door to his car opened and closed after someone got inside.

Isaac sighed. "Jesus fucking Christ Erica, what the fuck took you so long? A few more minutes and I was going to leave your ass here to walk."

He looked up to glare at her, but was shocked when it wasn't Erica that he was looking at.

"Ari?" He said.

She didn't say anything and instead looked away from him shifting in her seat. She bit her lip and closed her eyes. Isaac watched as she rested her head back against the seat. She took a deep breath to calm herself down, but Isaac could hear her heart pounding wildly.

She opened her eyes and locked eyes with him. "My father hits me." She said. "And he calls me names, and sometimes he even makes me do things… that I don't want to do. I try to pretend like it isn't happening even though it is. It hurts less that way I think."

She continued to look in his eyes. He could see her hands trembling in her lap, and reached out to grab one of them, despite how she flinched, interlocking their fingers. Her hand was soft, despite the healing cuts, and the feeling of it made his head spin.

"It's not your fault." He spoke quietly.

He saw her look down at their intertwined fingers and thought that she was going to punch him in the dick and scream at him to get his fucking hands off her, but she didn't. Instead she let him hold her hand and even continued to stare at their hands when she started to speak again.

"I know.." She whispered. "But sometimes I wish it was. That way there would be some sort of purpose behind it. There would be reason. I could change something, or fix myself. Instead I don't know what I'm doing wrong, and I don't know how I'm supposed to fix it"

She looked up to Isaac again, who hadn't looked at anything but her since she got in his car, and he tightened his fingers around her small hand.

"You aren't doing anything wrong." He shook his head.

She gave him a small smile and his stomach twisted in knots.

"Do you want a ride home?" He said without thinking.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "What about Erica?"

"Erica who?" Is all he says before returning the smile that she had given him seconds before.

* * *

**Yay, hand holding and all that jazz. Also I wanted to say that I start school on Monday so updates might be a little slower but I'm a machine at writing so I will definitely post as much as possible! :D**

**Leave a review (tell me what you think about it I _beg_ of you), and I'll love you forever! :))**

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Motivation

**Haha, so this story was on a pretty long hiatus for which I apologize for. Words kind of can't describe how shitty I feel about this.. I have no excuses. I'm just going to leave it at that. Enjoy the new chapter, if any of you are still reading this, of course :)**

* * *

"Erica who?" Isaac said to Ari while grinning.

She laughed and looked behind him out of the open driver's side window.

"How about the Erica who's currently standing behind you?"

He shook his head. "Whaa?" Before turning to look, where he immediately flinched and released her hand. "Oh my _god_."

Erica rested a hand on her hip and cocked her head to the side. "If you two are finished with your covert lover's rendezvous, I would really love to catch a ride home now." She smirked. "Unless you _aren't_ finished yet, because you _haven't_ finished yet."

Ari rolled her eyes and saw Isaac rest his head in his hands out of the corner of her eye. He let out an audible groan.

She looked over to Erica and smirked back. "Oh trust me Erica, I always make sure Isaac _finishes_."

Erica raised her eyebrow and shook her head. "Well fuck, in that case if I knew you paid so generously, I probably would have offered to tutor you a long time ago."

"Ah, but that's the thing Erica," Ari winked at her. "I don't pay generously, I give generously."

Erica raised her eyebrow. "Is that right Isaac?" She said, turning to look at him.

He glared at her and wound his hands tightly around the steering wheel. His foot pressed down on the brake as he moved the stick shift to put the car into drive. He glanced back up to Erica and gave her an unamused look. "Sounds about right to me."

The car suddenly moved and Ari gripped onto the seat as Isaac peeled out of the parking lot, leaving a laughing Erica behind.

Ari looked over to Isaac and could tell that he seemed to be on edge. His hands were wrapped so tightly around the wheel his knuckles were white and his jaw line was hard set, moving slightly as he ground his teeth together.

It wasn't long before he turned to her. "You really have to stop with the sexual jokes. They already think we're banging."

"You wish, pretty boy."

Isaac looked at her out the corner of his eye but didn't respond. They sat in silence before it came to Ari's attention that Isaac was just driving around aimlessly, and wasn't even in the general vicinity of her house at all.

"Umm," She said. "Where are we going?"

He kept looking straight forward though his body seemed to relax slightly. "I figured you wouldn't want to go home yet, so I just kind of.. drove."

"Oh.." She shifted in her seat so that she was sitting up straighter.

Isaac cleared his throat. "But I guess we could always get that whole tutoring thing over with. Since we've skipped the last few sessions and all..."

Ari shrugged. "Whatever dude."

Isaac sighed, but pulled into the closest parking lot, before turning the car around and driving in the opposite direction.

He didn't speak again and Ari used the silence to think about the way that he had grasped her hand earlier. It was tight. Tight enough to cause a dull ache to spread throughout her fingers, blending itself into her palm. It felt desperate, and needy, and Ari thought that she probably couldn't have pulled her hand out of his even if she tried. So she just let his hand embrace hers, secretly relishing in the false feeling of warmth that she felt from it.

It had been nice while it lasted, though she would never admit that out loud.

Isaac didn't speak to her again on the ride home. The silence was heavy and to Ari it seemed like a long drive when it was barely five minutes until they finally pulled up in the driveway of Derek's home. When Isaac put the car into park he got out wordlessly leaving her behind. She got out after him, slower, and kept a decent distance away from him as she followed behind him.

He reached the door before her, and after he opened the door he held it open for her. His eyes burned into her throughout the short distance to the door.

She looked to him briefly as she walked through the door and listened as it closed shortly after. She could hear faint voices echoing throughout the house and stopped moving. A slight pressure rested on her lower back as Isaac pressed his hand onto her, encouraging her to move forward.

She whipped her head to glare at him. "Keep your wandering hands to yourself."

He glared back and used his hand to forcefully shove her forward. "Keep your bitchy comments to yourself."

"Oh trust me, I do."

He sighed. "Just go."

"I think you're forgetting this isn't my house. Lead the way." She said as she stepped aside.

He rolled his eyes at her but stepped in front of her none the less, walking in the direction of the voices. Ari faintly remembered that they were walking towards the kitchen and reluctantly followed behind him.

The moment they walked through the entrance of the room, the sounds of the voices stopped and instead were replaced with an awkward silence as blank faces stared at them.

Ari watched as Isaac shuffled and ran a hand messily through his hair. "Well uh, were going to go up to my room now.."

Stiles made a choking sound and looked incredulous. "Already? With everyone here?"

Isaac looked at him confused. "Yeah?"

Stiles looked slightly uncomfortably. "Well.. Be safe?"

Isaac's head whipped around wildly. "What the fuck! No. You sick piece of shit. We have _tutoring_."

Stiles put his hands up and backed away. "Yeah, that's what I meant.. Be safe.. With those books. Keep em covered.. and uhh.. Don't strain yourselves too hard.. you know, with those books."

Isaac glared at him before looking all around the room. "I hate you all." He said before gripping Ari's arm tightly and pulling her roughly behind him, only releasing her when they reached the outside of his door.

He rested his hand on the door knob and turned to her. "I swear to god, if you even look like you're going to touch anything, I will pick you up by your hair and throw you out of the window."

She scoffed and pushed his hand off the door knob, gripping onto it with her own. "Oh yeah? And I swear to god, if you like you're even going to touch me at all I will burn you where fucking stand."

She turned the knob quickly and pushed the door open; stepping inside to find it exactly like it was the last time she had been there almost as if it had been preserved.

She made her way to the bed and flung herself on it in the same fashion she had the time before, making herself comfortable. Isaac stopped to glare at her before walking over the bed as well sitting down on the edge while rifling through his school bag to pull out the books that he had brought along with him from school. "I'm going to take a shot in the dark, and ask that you probably didn't bring your books, did you?"

She turned to him and smiled.

He grimaced. "I don't know why I even bother."

"Me either."

After he had all of his books in his lap he set the bag down on the ground next to him and turned towards Ari. "I'm going to take another shot in the dark and ask that you're probably not just failing Chemistry are you? The real question is though, is it all of your classes, or is it just half?"

She sat up and put her hand to her chin in thought. "I'm passing Art.."

He nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Whatever." She shrugged.

Isaac lifted the books from his lap and tossed them in front of Ari. "Which subject do you want to start with?" He asked.

She looked at the books with disgust. "How about none of the above?"

He lifted his head. "Algebra it is."

"Douche." She mumbled.

An hour later, after Isaac had explained and explained again, how linear equations worked, and Ari was still unable to solve a single one on her own, he gave up. He shut the book and threw it across his bed before standing up quickly, pacing back and forth across his floor.

He used his fingertips to grip at the bridge of his nose before he stopped and turned towards her once again. "How the fuck do you not get this? I explained it 14 fucking times. Trust me, I _counted_. Seriously Ari, I can only do so much. You have to actually _try."_

She looked down and used her fingers to pick at the bedspread that she was sitting on. "I am trying! Have you ever thought that maybe you can't teach?"

"No." He said. "You are not going to blame this on me. It's your general lack of motivation to do anything at all that's going to end up fucking you over."

She threw her hands up in the air. "There is nothing to be motivated for!"

He sat down on the bed again and leaned towards her. "Is there anything, _anything_ at all, that I can do to motivate you?"

She leaned away from him. "Well for starters you can get the fuck out of my space."

He groaned while rolling his eyes and moved up from the bed again, walking across his room to the wall adjacent to his bed and sat down so his back rested against it.

"Are you motivated now?"

She laid down on his bed and stared up the ceiling. "Not really, no."

"Then what else can I do?" He asked desperately.

She sighed. "I don't know.. You could give me breaks? Or make me food? Or find a way to make it more entertaining? Seriously I already spend 7 hours sitting in school I don't need a detailed instant replay from you."

He dropped his head into his hands. "So your problem is," He sighed and lifted his head again. "You find it boring?"

"Well.. duh."

He stared at the wall behind her. "Well, what if every now and then we do something that's not boring then? Would you pay attention for me then?"

Her face screwed up and she looked at him suspiciously. "Like what?"

"You said you want entertainment right? What about a movie or something?"

She sat up quickly and stared at him with a blank expression. "Are you trying to ask me out on a date?"

His jaw dropped open. "What?"

"You're not my type dude."

He glared at her. "You're not exactly my type either." He said his voice sounding strained.

"Says the complete and total faggot."

He held onto the bridge of his nose like he had earlier and sighed. "Do you want to go to a movie or not?"

She flopped on the bed again. "When?"

"Whenever you want."

She rolled over so that she was facing him. "Alright, what movie?"

"Whatever you want."

She narrowed her eyes. "Are you going to buy me candy?"

"If that's what you want."

She raised her eyebrow and smirked at him. "Cool, let's go to that new slasher film tomorrow night. And I expect you to buy me _everything_."

"Uhhh.." Isaac said while making a face.

She glared at him. "You said whatever I want!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're right I did. Fine. Tomorrow night it is.." He said as he let his head fall to sit against the wall behind him.

She smiled and got up from the bed. "Awesome. Take me home."

He rolled his eyes and got up slowly. "Take me home, what?"

She looked confused. "Take me home.. now?"

He turned away from her wordlessly and walked over to his bed grabbing her bag off of it before slinging it over his own shoulder as he walked out of his room. She followed closely behind him bounding down the stairs with heavy feet, the loud sound of pounding echoing off of the walls.

When they reached the bottom of the stair case Isaac took a sharp right and turned into the living room area. Some of Isaac's friends were sitting down amongst the couches. Ari found it really strange that they were all over here all the time. It was very odd, and she made a mental note to ask Isaac about that later.

Ari watched as Isaac shuffled uncomfortably on his feet. "Well, I'm going to take Ari home now. I'll be back in a bit."

A few of them snickered and the rest looked indifferent.

Derek Hale turned towards Isaac and raised his eyebrow. "Aren't you going to ask if your guest wants to stay for dinner?"

Erica laughed suddenly. "I'm sure Isaac fed her enough already."

"Oh my god." Isaac groaned as he reached out in front of himself to grab one of the decorative pillows from the couch. He shoved his face into it. "I'm going to suffocate myself."

"Oh nooooo," Stiles said suddenly as he got up from the couch across from him ripping the pillow out of his grasp and clutching it his chest. "Not with the good pillows you won't. Go grab one of the shitty ones from Derek's room!"

Derek glared at Stiles who glared back at him before eventually turning away and facing the other way jutting his hip out with attitude.

Isaac looked at Ari and then looked at the door. "She's not interested in dinner." He said before bolting to the door, leaving Ari behind.

She looked at all of them before slowly inching towards the door. "Thanks for the offer.. Maybe next time?" She said before leaving just as quickly as Isaac had.

When she reached the car, he was already sitting inside with his eyes closed and his head resting against the window.

She opened the door and threw herself down into the seat before slamming the door behind her. "Thanks for fucking leaving me in there dude."

"I hate them all." He said while banging his head on the window.

She shrugged. "They're not so bad."

Isaac scoffed and didn't say another word to her on the drive home. Ari didn't really mind that, and when he pulled up to her house she opened the door quickly and got out. She turned around and stared at Isaac for a moment.

"Pick me up at 6 tomorrow." She told him, before shutting the door and walking up the short distance from his car to her front door not looking back once.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

Ari didn't think that Isaac would actually show up, but she got ready anyway, putting actual effort in her appearance for what felt like the first time in a long time. She waited by the window at the front of her house twirling her straightened hair with her fingers, glad that her parents hadn't been home since last night, and from the looks of it probably wouldn't be home by the time she left. If Isaac even comes after all.

If she was being honest with herself she was a little more shocked than she should have been, when he pulled up, right a six o'clock.

She watched him a little bit from the window inside of her house. He looked the exact same as he did every other day, and suddenly she felt like an idiot for dressing nicer than she usually does.

It had taken her over an hour to pick out her outfit. She tried on almost all of the clothes in her closet before making the final decision.

Ari looked down at what she had chosen and grimaced. Suddenly it seemed inadequate. The shorts she had decided on were old; a pair that she had gotten on a whim one day and had barely worn since. She also decided to opt out on her usual choice of sweater and chose a fitted henley instead, which to be honest, was another impulse buy.

She contemplated going into her room to change her outfit really quickly, but out the corner of her eye she could see that Isaac was already making his way up the sidewalk.

The closer that Isaac got to the door the more she began to panic. It wasn't until he had walked all the way up to her house and knocked on her door that she realized this was actually happening right now.

In that moment, Ari felt like she had went through all five stages of grief in a matter of thirty seconds.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_." She mumbled to herself. "Why the fuck did I agree to this?"

Ari suddenly felt like she couldn't move.

She heard Isaac knock again, this time they sounded quicker in succession, almost as if he was growing impatient with her.

"Ari.." She heard him say from the other side of the door. "I know you're in there. I can practically hear you ignoring me."

It took another minute before she could find the confidence in herself to walk swiftly to the door. She stopped just before it and took a deep breath before gripping the doorknob tightly to open the door.

The first thing she saw was Isaac. He had all of his weight shifted onto one foot, and his hands were shoved into his pockets. His eyes were staring deeply into hers, and he raised one of his eyebrows before clearing his throat.

"Are you uh, ready to go?" He asked. "Or do you need another few minutes to yourself?"

Ari glared at him and stepped outside of her house, slamming the door behind her. She brushed past him quickly making sure to shoulder check him roughly.

As she made her way over to the car she heard Isaac laugh from behind her.

"Okay then." He said in an amused tone.

She had almost made it to the car when Isaac suddenly walked past her, reaching the passenger door just before her. He opened it slowly and held it there for her.

She got in wordlessly and chose not to look at him in the process. Instead she put all of her focus on the windshield in front of her until Isaac closed the passenger side door. After that she watched as he walked around the front of the car quickly before pulling open his door and throwing himself lazily inside.

He looked her up and down after he finished situating himself inside of the car. "You look really nice Ari." He smiled.

"Ummm.." She trailed off.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Actually, that reminds me. I got something for you" He said before reaching into the back of his car and felt around for something.

When his hand reemerged she could see a tiny pale blue flower resting in it. It looked a little weird and she couldn't put her finger on why until he rested it her empty hand.

The petals were crumbling a little bit and she suddenly felt sad.

Isaac shifted awkward in his seat. "It uh, reminded me of you for some reason. That's all."

She stared at the tiny wildflower dumbly. "It's dead…" She said with no emotion.

Isaac let out an uneasy laugh. "I know.. It wasn't when I picked it. I don't really know what happened to it within the last couple of hours…"

She just nodded and twirled it in her fingers by its dry and fragile stem. "Well.. Thanks Isaac.. I guess?"

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

"So what candy do you want?" Isaac asked as he pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. It was light brown in color and still had a faint leather smell to it.

"One of each" Ari smiled.

He grimaced, but turned back to the worker behind the counter. "One of each then." He said with no surprise in his tone.

The cashier looked at him with a questionable face that so obviously stated _"Dude… are you fucking kidding me?" _Though he began to pull out one of each box of candy, and set them down on the counter before them.

"That will be thirty seven dollars and fifty seven cents.." The cashier trailed off looking uncomfortable.

Isaac opened his wallet, and reached inside but Ari stopped him.

"Wait!" She said. "I want popcorn and a drink too."

Isaac made a pained face. "Of course you do."

The cashier looked at Ari. "What size popcorn and drink do you want?"

"The biggest ones."

Isaac rolled his eyes. "We'll have large popcorn, extra butter, and a large Coke."

"Please." Ari added as she smiled.

The cashier looked at them with wide eyes. "Sure.."

They watched as he filled the bag of popcorn and set it down in front of them before grabbing an empty cup and filling it with soda. He brought it back to the counter and set it down next to the popcorn before reaching out and pushing more buttons on his register. "Your total is.. fifty two dollars and thirty nine cents."

Ari watched as Isaac made a pained face while reaching into his wallet again, pulling out the money and handing it over reluctantly.

Ari grabbed the popcorn in one hand and the cup of soda with her other while Isaac put his wallet back in his pocket before reaching out and grabbing the various boxes of candy.

They made their way to the theatre that the ticket taker had directed them towards and once they made it inside, took the seats in the far back.

Ari made sure that the seat she had was directly in the middle of the row and once she sat down Isaac took the seat next to her. She put the soda on the cup holder on her side and shoved the bag of popcorn into Isaac's already full hands. He grabbed onto it quickly before it spilled to the ground whilst Ari reached her hands grabbing one of the boxes of candy.

Isaac glared at her and set the bag of popcorn next to his feet and then stacked the rest of the boxes of candy next to it.

He looked over to Ari again and this time she was already emptying the last bits of the package into her mouth. She threw the box into Isaac's lap and leaned over his lap to reach at the other boxes.

"Oh my god." Isaac said. "Slow down."

"Fuck you dude, I'm hungry." She said as she brought up four more boxes of candy pulling them onto her lap.

She tore the package open and tossed the wrapper to the floor.

"You should have said something; I would have gotten you something better to eat before we came here."

She chewed on the sour gummy worms before turning towards him her face bright. "You can get me something to eat _after_ the movie."

He rolled his eyes and turned his head away from her and fixed his eyes on the previews playing before them.

He tried focusing on the trailers to the movies that would be coming out soon, but his mind kept wandering to the way that the arm rest between was pushed up and how he could feel Ari's arm resting against his.

Suddenly she was leaning over him again as she reached out to grab the bag of popcorn. She pulled it closer to her chest as the beginning of the movie began to play. Isaac continued to watch her, even though he knew he should be watching the movie instead, and without thinking he moved his leg closer to hers.

He pressed it against hers and her leg didn't move. He reached his hand down and rested it on his leg so that his pinky finger was barely brushing against her thigh. He saw her look at him out of the corner of her eye though she didn't move away. Instead she continued to shove handfuls of popcorn into her mouth.

He inched his ring finger ever so slowly next to his pinky finger hoping she wouldn't notice but knowing she would. When she still didn't move her leg out from under his touch he continued to do the same with the rest of his fingers, until his palm was flush against the exposed skin on her leg.

Her thigh felt cold underneath his hand and after a few minutes of her pretending not to notice he began to absent mindedly move his fingers to they ghosted over her skin in small circles.

Suddenly Ari's leg jerked and his hand fell limp. She crossed her leg over her other one and leaned to the side of the seat opposite of Isaac. Isaac quickly moved his hand back to his own leg out of embarrassment. Ari didn't look at him at all, though when Isaac looked over to her out of the corner of his eye, he could see the faintest line of a smile on her lips.

Isaac didn't try anything else the rest of the movie, and when it finally ended they continued to sit in silence for a few minutes. Ari was the first to move, grabbing the empty popcorn bag, along with the drink cup, and some of the boxes. She walked past Isaac towards the exit. He reached down and grabbed the unopened boxes of candy she didn't touch and followed behind her.

When he stepped out of the door of the theatre she was waiting for him outside. He walked up to her and she smiled. "So where are you taking me to dinner?"

"How are you still hungry?" He said incredulously.

She laughed. "I'm not. I just like it when you buy me stuff."

He couldn't help smiling back at her bright face. "Yeah, well I like buying you stuff."

Her face turned red and she turned away slightly. He laughed at her and grew a little more confident, reaching his empty arm out to her slowly, draping it lazily over her shoulders.

"How about IHOP?" He said as he began to lead her towards the front doors.

She didn't say anything though Isaac thought he could feel her lean into him, just briefly before she moved out from underneath his arm.

**o.o.o.o.o.o**

Dinner pasted fairly uneventful. Once again Isaac bought Ari everything that she wanted, though this time she restrained herself and ordered the minimum. Isaac barely talked to her. In fact, they didn't really talk at all. Ari thought about bringing up how he put his hand on her thigh, and she tried a few times, though she could never find the courage in herself to do it. She chalked it up to an accident and ignored the disappointed feeling in her stomach every time she remembered how she yanked her leg away.

As they were leaving Ari followed behind Isaac as he walked out of the front doors of Perkins. She gave him a halfhearted smile when he held the door open and wrapped her arms around herself when the cool night air came in contact with her skin. She could hear the faint sound of Isaac's footsteps coming from behind her, and the soft buzz of the streetlamps hanging above them. She noticed that the parking lot was relatively empty, aside from the few cars that were scattered amongst the parking spaces.

Her shadow was cast out in front of her. She could even see Isaacs shadow, lightly larger, and moving along next to hers.

She stopped walking and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. As she exhaled she turned around to face Isaac and saw that he was already looking at her. His hands were in shoved deep into his pockets as he walked slowly up to the spot where she stood, unmoving. He stopped just before her and continued to stare down at her, his eyes never leaving hers.

She let her eyes graze over his face, and started to take in his features. It was the first time that Ari had ever properly looked at Isaac's face, and she began to notice things about him that hadn't noticed before, like how at this very moment he almost didn't even look real. Her brow furrowed as she continued to stare at him, wondering how she could have ever missed that before.

She noticed the soft light that emit across his face and how it gave his skin a yellowish glow, except for his cheeks, which were covered with a rosy tint. She noticed how red his lips were, and how every time he released a breath, a pool of icy mist poured from the soft curves. She noticed how the shadows that displayed across his face made him look gaunt, and the way that his cheekbones were sharp and rigid, making the apples of cheeks almost seem hallow.

Ari looked at Isaac's face properly for the very first time, and she realized that he was really fucking beautiful.

As if he had heard her say it out loud, Isaac's expression suddenly shifted, and his lips turned upwards, curving into a soft smile. Her face felt like it was on fire, and she looked up at him accusingly. Despite her glare, his eyes were bright and amused, and she could feel herself shiver underneath his gaze.

Her glare deepened. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He looked up for a moment before resting his eyes back on hers. "You're shivering."

"It's fucking cold out." She snapped annoyed at the fact that he hadn't answered her question.

Before Ari could even begin to process what was happening, Isaac was slipping himself out of his jacket. He held it by the shoulders in his hands before shifting on his feet and walking behind her.

"Here," He said as he placed it delicately across her shoulders, enveloping her body in warmth. "Take my jacket."

He let his hands rest on her shoulders for a few more seconds before he released her, at which she turned around and faced him.

She slipped her arms into the sleeves and zipped the front up before shoving her hands into the front pockets, like Isaac had earlier.

"Um, thanks." She said.

He just smiled and shrugged. "No problem." He said as he turned away from her, walking in the direction of his car.

After a moment's pause she followed quickly after him, barely catching up before he reached the passenger's side door. He waited while she approached and used the extra time to take his keys from his pocket, using them to unlock the doors. After a low beep sounded from the car he reached for the handle and pulled open the car door, stepping aside so that she could get in.

She didn't look at him as she pulled herself into the car. He shut the door behind her shortly after her body was entirely inside. She watched as he jogged around the car to the driver's side door, getting in quickly.

Isaac shut the door behind him and turned towards her. His eyes were tearing holes into her face and eventually she couldn't help herself and turned towards him.

She watched him and he watched her and she noticed how his eyes travelled across her face, pausing only every now and then. He looked back up to her eyes and stopped. He shifted and began to lean into her and when she tried to move away from him she felt as though she couldn't. His eyes were soft and inviting, and his lips were the same, though they were approaching very quickly and it kind of scared Ari.

She could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest as she began to panic. His face was only a few inches away now, and she acted without thinking and turned her face sharply, letting his lips press awkwardly into her cheek. She closed her eyes at the soft pressure, and kept them closed even as he pulled away.

She could feel the atmosphere of the car grow thick with tension. She turned her face away even more before opening her eyes, letting herself focus on the first thing she saw.

A couple walked out of the front of IHOP and they looked to be about Isaac's and Ari's age. They were holding hands and smiling at each other as they walked slowly across the parking lot. Ari watched as the boy led the girl along to the car, where he opened up the door for her before moving to the other side to get in himself.

She could see them smiling at each other as they sat in the dimly lit car. A few moments later the boy leaned towards the girl before pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.

Ari groaned and closed her eyes, moving her arm up so that she could cover up her face entirely.

She could hear Isaac wrap his fingers around the steering wheel. She didn't know what to do let alone what to say. The anxiety of the situation was building and Ari felt as she was going to explode if nothing was said soon. She tried to will her mouth to move but even as hard as she tried her voice stayed inside her throat along with all of her thoughts.

She could feel her palms grow clammy as her mouth started to water. A sickly feeling rested in the pit of her stomach. Beads of sweat rested at the top of her brow, and now instead of feeling too cold, she felt like her whole body was encased in flames.

Her whole body cramped up and she wrapped her arms around her waist in pain.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Isaac finally spoke.

She didn't say anything and after a few minutes she could hear Isaac sigh, putting the keys into the ignition turning the car on. When he pulled out of the parking lot Ari noticed that he turned in the direction of her house.

The silence wasn't comfortable and instead it was awkward. She thought back to how he leaned in towards her and how she just pushed him away like she has so many times before. It wasn't until now that she really realized that she had actually wanted him to kiss her and she decided then that if Isaac tried to come onto her again, she would let him. She readied herself while Isaac continued to drive the increasingly short distance to her house and took a deep breath when he turned onto her street. She could feel her heart beating so hard against her chest that she was sure that Isaac was able to hear it echoing throughout the car.

The drive down her street suddenly seemed long and irritating, and the way that Isaac hadn't looked at her or said anything since they got in the car was even more so.

By the time that Isaac actually made it her house and pulled the car up slowly to her curb in front of her house she had stopped breathing completely. When he killed the engine he set his keys in his lap and looked out of the window, obviously avoiding Ari.

She let out a shaky breath and shifted against the leather seats. "Isaac.." She said in a soft voice.

He turned towards her then and looked her in the eyes. He didn't seem angry, or even upset. To Ari he just looked.. normal. He was looking at her the way he always looks at her. She thought that maybe it was slight disinterest wish a dash of underlying hatred.

He continued to stare at her waiting for a response.

"Umm." She fumbled over her words. "I just.. You.. I mean.. What I'm trying to say is.. I uh.. Um thanks?"

He turned away from her and faced the front of the car but she thought she could see a small smile form on his face. "You're welcome."

"Yeah, and I guess, I just feel bad. For wasting your money. I can pay you back.."

"You don't have to do that Ari." He said.

She looked down to her lap. "Yeah I do."

Suddenly Isaac grabbed her hand, gripping it so tightly she winced. "No you don't. I didn't buy you all that stuff because I didn't want to. That's one thing that I don't think you understand about me Ari. I don't do things _just_ _because_. I don't do things that I don't want to do to please other people"

She looked at him confused. "I don't understand.."

She heard him sigh and he took his hand away from hers, leaving it to fall limp against her thigh. He drug his hand roughly through his hair shook his head. "Go home Ari."

"What?" She said. "Are you fucking on something right now? What's your problem? I don't get you. What was the point of this whole night if you're just going to be a douche at the end of it?"

He glared at her. "What's my problem? What's _my_ problem? Are you fucking kidding me Ari? I thought it was obvious. I asked you out to the movies, I paid for you, I bought you everything you asked for and then some, I let you order me around, I put my hand on your leg, I even gave you the center seat in the movie theatre and you're seriously asking me what the point of tonight was? Do you really thing that tonight was only for the benefit of your education? I tried to.. I thought this was.. I wanted it to be.."

"Wanted it to be what?" She could hear her voice shake.

"A date." He said. "I wanted it to be a date."

Ari could feel her face grow hot. "Why would you want it to be a date?.."

"Because.." Isaac's voice sounded breathless. "Because, we're so alike and you're so.. You just don't care. You don't treat me like that cowardly kid who got abused by his father. You treat me like you fucking hate me, and maybe you do, but it's better than all the people who watch their every move around me like I'm going to explode at any moment. You're the first girl to make me feel like a human being.. You're just.. different Ari. You're different. That's why I wanted this is be a date. Because despite my better judgment, right now, your happiness is the most important thing to me. And I just wanted to be the one to give it you.."

Suddenly Ari's face felt sticky and uncomfortable and when she brought her hand to wipe at it she felt wetness.

She was crying.

She brought her hands up to her face to hide her face. "I need to go.." She said quickly retracting one of her hands from her face to grip the handle on the door pushing it open as fast as she could. She got out as fast as she could and ignored Isaac calling for her come back.

She walked quickly and steadily up the sidewalk to her house willing herself not to look back at his car. When she made it the door she froze. She didn't want to go inside, but she didn't want to stay out here where Isaac was.

She weighed her options. She could go back. She knew Isaac wouldn't turn away. She thought about it for what seemed like hours before she gained the courage to actually turn around again.

Isaac was already gone.

She had no choice but to go inside.

Ari stared at the door preparing herself for what was inside. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and gripped onto the soft material of the jacket she was wearing.

Isaac's jacket..

She closed her eyes and threw her head back. "Fuuuuck."

* * *

**So it's no secret that I obviously had a little bit of trouble writing this chapter, and even after working on it, for a really long time, I still kind of don't like it. I think I'm just losing my passion for this story. Reviews telling me how you feel about it would help me out so much. **


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